


Just Scream Mayday We're Going Down

by Anonymous



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25950181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A very short headcanon of a phone call Sid makes to Geno after finding out he might waive his no-movement clause.
Relationships: Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 68
Collections: Anonymous





	Just Scream Mayday We're Going Down

**Author's Note:**

> The offseason always brings about my emo Geno feelings and I keep imagining different variations of the phone call Sid might have made to Geno last summer after hearing about the possibility of him leaving. So here’s a short headcanon of one of the many versions in my head. Background note: Geno isn’t married and doesn’t have a child in this verse.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is all pure fiction. Also, yes, I’m aware that my writing contains fragments, run-on sentences, accidental tense jumps, and poorly structured dialogue. If it’s too bothersome/distracting, just skip this story. 
> 
> Title comes from Mayday by Wild Rivers.

Sid’s arms feel jittery when he picks up his cell to make the call. He knows it’s late Miami and the line rings long enough that he thinks it might go to voicemail, but then he hears Geno’s voice come through, “Sid?”

“Hey G,” Sid says, his voice coming out shaky. 

“You still in Germany, yes? Early there.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m still here,” he pauses, realizing he never gave himself time to figure out how he’d go about this conversation. He’d called Geno immediately after waking up to the text from Mario. “Tell me it’s not true?” he eventually gets out, voice still thready. 

Geno makes a questioning noise. “What you’re asking me?” 

Sid feels a sudden flash of anger. Angry that Geno is playing dumb when he knows exactly what Sid is asking. The feeling is gone as quickly as it came, though. Replaced again by worried nerves and a sadness he hasn’t fully let surface. 

Sid hears a couple of car horns blare on Geno’s end of the line and wonders where he is. Maybe a nightclub in Miami where an excess of alcohol, sweaty bodies, and loud music will help numb whatever decision he’s about to make. 

If it wasn’t six in the morning in Germany, Sid would probably break out the whiskey just to slow his own racing heart. It hadn’t stopped beating too fast in his chest since he heard the news, making his whole body feel panicky. 

“Sid? You there still?” Geno asks, pulling Sid out of his thoughts. 

Sid decides he needs to be direct because he needs to know, needs to hear it straight from Geno. His brain unwilling to accept it as anything more than a cruel rumor otherwise. “Are you going to waive your no movement clause? Are you going to leave?”

He hears Geno sigh and imagines him pursing his face into a sort of affronted, confused look. The way he always does when he doesn’t want to answer a question. 

“Yes. I’m waive it if they ask me to. Is what’s best I’m think,” Geno states, as if it’s a simple matter of paperwork. As if stating it plainly will somehow reduce the weight of a monumental decision. 

Sid wants this to be a helpful conversation. The last thing he wants to do is add to the stress that the organization has caused Geno over the past few months. But he feels his fight to hold himself together wavering.

“Leaving is what’s best?!” his voice rises before dropping into something of a whisper. “Leaving Pittsburgh? Leaving _me_?” 

There’s a long stretch of silence before Geno responds, matching Sid’s whisper, “I- I’m not know what to say Sid.”

“Just, tell me why.”

“I’m not..” Geno pauses and Sid can practically hear him lick his lips through the line. Knows his bottom lip is probably red and raw from the unconscious habit. “I’m not want to be where I’m not wanted,” Geno finishes, emotion heavy in his voice now, thickening his accent. 

Sid lets out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. The thought of Geno thinking he isn’t wanted in Pittsburgh infuriates him. All he sees is red for whoever made him feel that way. 

But, he also can’t help but wonder if this is partially his fault too. His fault for not putting a stop to the constant stream of gossip sooner. It was open knowledge that Geno played in Sid’s shadow but Sid thought that’s where Geno had wanted to be. There was less media that way, less attention. Maybe the shadows had gotten too dark. Maybe Sid hadn’t done enough to make him feel wanted, always afraid of letting Geno see just how much he wanted of him. 

“G..” Sid rasps. He forces himself to take a steadying breath. “Geno, you are wanted. I wan- I need you in Pittsburgh with me. I can’t do this without you.” Sid isn’t even sure what he is referring to by ‘this’, just knows on a primal level that he can’t go back to Pittsburgh in the fall and not have Geno by his side. 

“You superstar Sid. You be fine without me. Play amazing hockey always,” Geno says softly but matter-of-factly.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Sid laughs a bit hysterically, looking out at the sky where the sun has almost fully risen. “This is about more than hockey. You mean more to me than hockey.”

Geno is Sid’s constant. He has been since before they could speak the same language. Since the first time he met Geno on Mario’s front porch and could see the fear mixed with hope splashed across Geno’s face. Sid remembers the way something in his body had settled that night. 

“I’m not understand,” Geno says.

“I’m sorry if management has made you feel that you don’t belong in Pittsburgh, because you do. And you should never have to question that. I know this year has been tough at times, but please.. don’t let anger make this choice for you.”

“Sid, I’m-” Geno starts before Sid cuts him off.

“No wait, let me finish. There is no doubt in my mind that you should be a Penguin for life. Still, I can’t make you, or ask you to, stay if you really believe leaving is what’s best. And no matter what, I will respect your decision. But,” Sid tries to take a deep breath but his chest feels too heavy and too light all at once. 

He hitches on the inhale but continues, “I want- I need you to know that I care about you G, so much more than you realize. You make me better, on and off the ice. I want you in my life. I want you in Pittsburgh with me, always. Maybe it’s selfish to say all this now, but I can’t let you leave without having at least made that clear.” 

Sid isn’t going to confess every last feeling he has for Geno, has had for Geno for years, over the phone from a continent away. Geno’s decision needs to be his own, not weighed too heavily by Sid’s wants or needs. But Sid still needs Geno to know how important he is to him, whether he leaves or stays. 

“I’m want you in my life always too Sid,” Geno says, sounding stuffy. It sounds like Geno’s crying as hard as he did when they had watched Marley and Me years ago, which was full on ugly crying. Sid still remembers wanting to lay his head on Geno’s shoulder and hold his hand. Instead, he had passed him a box of tissues.

Sid knows Geno’s reply is not an answer. He’s not saying he’s staying and Sid doesn’t want to get his hopes up. But, he hopes anyway.

Sid is still trying to get his heart to slow while he listens for Geno to get his sniffling under control on the other end. After about a minute of silence Geno asks, “Sid, you come visit me in Russia this summer?”

Sid can’t help the way the edges of his lips turn up into a soft smile. “There’s nothing else I’d rather do.”

+++

Sid has one more call to make this morning. As he dials Jim’s number he lets the anger he’s been pushing down fill him up. 

“Hi Sidney, how are you?” Jim asks. 

Sid chooses to skip over pleasantries. “Jim, it’s early where I am so I’m going to make this quick.”

“Okay,” Jim says, sounding kind of surprised. Sid never gives much opinion on management matters and is usually perfectly polite with Jim. But even he has his limits. “What’s on your mind?” 

“I have had enough of the negative comments and rumors about Geno in the media. Geno is just as untouchable as I am in this organization. He and I built this team together. We are equals. Put some fucking respect on his name. It’s me _and_ Geno,” Sid states bluntly before ending the call, not really caring to hear Jim grovel. 

He decides to go back to bed after that, feeling pretty drained from the morning’s calls. He’s just closed his eyes when he hears his phone buzz on his nightstand with a text from Geno. _I’m not leave you Sid. Penguins for always._

Sid blinks away the wetness in his eyes before replying, _Always. See you in Russia G._

He gets another text a few minutes later that reads _Russia with Geno ))))))_ and smiles into his pillow before falling asleep. 


End file.
